[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 26 (Thursday, March 10, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          FAMILIES AND VALUES

                                 ______


                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 1994

  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert my Washington 
Report for Wednesday, March 9, 1994, into the Congressional Record:

                          Families and Values

       Americans are putting much greater emphasis on the 
     importance of the family than they did two decades ago. They 
     recognize that the family is where most basic values are 
     instilled--from being responsible for one's own actions to 
     respecting people for themselves--and they think that for 
     many reasons the family is under great strain today. They are 
     worried about the prospects for the institution of the 
     family.
       For most of us it is hard to conceive of a successful 
     society without strong families. Whenever there are 
     indications that the families of the nation are in disarray 
     or confused it becomes a matter of deep concern. Hoosiers in 
     public meetings instinctively understand that at the heart of 
     our society lies the family. A witness before a congressional 
     committee some years ago said: ``As families go, so goes the 
     nation.'' So it makes a lot of sense to have as a paramount 
     national goal the promotion of families that can successfully 
     raise children.


                      importance of family values

       Discussions on a wide range of social issues are 
     increasingly coming back to discussions of families and 
     values. The debate on crime has evolved into comments about 
     the general moral decline in the country. People want 
     criminals behind bars and heinous crime severely punished. 
     But they also increasingly associate crime with a lack of 
     social values and the breakdown of family structures--high 
     divorce rates, single parenthood, child abuse. People want 
     the root causes of crime addressed.
       Other social issues are being linked more and more to 
     values and family structure: lackluster educational 
     achievement, high infant mortality rates, health care costs 
     driven up by violence and drug abuse, and high poverty rates. 
     There is not much doubt that the best social program for 
     children is a stable, intact family.
       The cold statistics on America's families are alarming. In 
     the past three decades the percentage of children born 
     outside of marriage has risen five-fold from 5 percent to 25 
     percent. Almost two-thirds of black children are born out of 
     wedlock. Twenty percent of all female teenagers in the U.S. 
     bear a child. Almost half of all marriages now end in 
     divorce. The result is that almost a third of U.S. families 
     with children are one parent households, And a lot of these 
     children grow up poor. Children, especially those in single 
     families, are the poorest Americans.
       I think this concern about family structures and moral 
     values is well-placed and healthy. Stable family structure is 
     important because it enables parents to meet their 
     responsibilities and counter the forces that can run contrary 
     to values--from violence on TV to peer pressure. Values by 
     which people live do matter and we should not pretend 
     otherwise. We ought not to have any partisan debate about 
     family values.


                            federal efforts

       I often ask myself what would be the most worthwhile public 
     policies to help strengthen values and families. Certainly 
     the problem is basically cultural rather than political, but 
     there are public policies that can be helpful. When the 
     government bans racial discrimination it forcers changes in 
     public behavior and, over time, a change of attitudes. Or 
     when the government takes steps to improve the economic 
     outlook and make jobs more secure, that can affect the 
     welfare of America's children and families.
       Much of the federal government's involvement in family 
     issues has been through a variety of specific programs, 
     including prenatal care, low-income health and child care, 
     Head Start, elementary and secondary education, assistance 
     for young mothers, and family planning. I suspect that 
     children are not as important as they should be in federal 
     and state budgets. One estimate is that eleven times more 
     federal benefit dollars per capita go to those over 65 than 
     to those under 18.
       Congress last year took several steps to help families. It 
     expanded significantly the earned income tax credit, which 
     will keep money in the hands of working parents. It passed 
     the Family and Medical Leave Act, which permits employees up 
     to 12 weeks of unpaid leave upon the birth or adoption of a 
     child or to care for a family member with a serious illness. 
     It set up a new program to offer assistance and support 
     services to help troubled families and keep them intact. And 
     it required states to step-up efforts to establish paternity 
     in out-of-wedlock births in order to improve support by 
     fathers. Other pro-family measures are pending before 
     Congress, including a reform of welfare to minimize the 
     penalties for getting married or going to work, and raising 
     the income tax exemption for children, which has not been 
     adjusted for inflation for decades.
       But perhaps more important than specific federal programs 
     would be for policymakers to look at how legislation in all 
     sorts of areas could impact on the family. Will this tax 
     policy or this health care reform or this assistance package 
     tend to strengthen or weaken families? We look at broad 
     public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the 
     deficit or the environment; we also need to look at how they 
     affect the family. Surely public policy should consider 
     seriously the value of the family, and that means asking how 
     legislation and market institutions affect the legal and 
     economic incentives to form families and to maintain their 
     stability. The aim of public policy should be to improve the 
     chances that families will succeed.


                               conclusion

       I think the good news is that a consensus is developing in 
     the country across ideological and partisan lines about the 
     nature of the problems confronting America's families. 
     Solutions include attention to the family structure, which 
     conservatives like to emphasize, as well as the economic 
     factors which the liberals like to stress. A better approach 
     is to address these problems simultaneously with programs 
     that increase resources available to parents as well as 
     improve the chances that children will grow up in stable, 
     intact families.
       One of the wisest statements to come out of the White House 
     in recent years came not from a president but from the first 
     lady. Barbara Bush said, ``Your success as a family--our 
     success as a society--depends not on what happens at the 
     White House, but on what happens inside your house.''

                          ____________________